Post (?) Winter Update

With the frigid stretch of weather that we've reentered, it appears as if I should recant the comments about the weather forecasting skills of daffodils.  Sure, the warm weather will return, but it's not in any hurry.  I'm just glad that we didn't get the snow that the northern half of the state received this week

Besides some snow banks around 3, 6, and 17 greens, the white stuff has mostly disappeared from the course.  With that, Chad and I have been able to more fully evaluate the post-winter condition of the course.

As we suspected, the ice on 3 and 6 did damage the Poa annua, and there are a few other greens that appear to have suffered some winter injury.  Here's a rundown of the problem areas that we've observed:

3 Green:  The back half, which is the most shaded, suffered the most significant damage, and pin placements will likely be relegated to the front half of the green upon opening.  Overall, the green seems to be improving daily, but these cold temperatures may set it back.  However, on Wednesday, we put a cover on the back of the green to protect it from frost and to help warm the soil.

6 Green:  The damage on 6 green is much more mottled than on 3 green, but it was also showing improvement.  As the picture below illustrates, we covered the entire green on Wednesday.

These breathable covers will help protect fragile plants from frost while promoting recovery by retaining heat.

7, 8, and 14 greens:  All of these greens have more minor, concentrated damage in their centers.  This damage likely occurred during the more recent freeze/thaw cycles and looks similar to some minor damage that we've observed in the low-lying spots of a few fairways.  On 2 and 11 greens, there is a narrow band of injury that perfectly coincides with the edge of large drifts that had formed on these greens.  From this, we believe that there was a certain depth of snow on 7, 8, and 14 that was conducive to injury during the recent freeze/thaws.  The below picture of a river birch that's along 3 fairway gives a good illustration of how freeze/thaws can be damaging.

As temperatures warm and day length increases, plants are stimulated into taking up water and resuming growth.  Some of the water that the river birch was taking up escaped through an old pruning cut and formed a small, frozen waterfall.  Turf plants also begin to take up water, but their thin leaves freeze more easily and the expanding ice can rupture their cells.  While we see damage to the turf leaves, we're hoping that their crowns (fancy term for growing point) are intact.  If so, they'll recover quickly.  

16 green:  The damage to 16 green is very similar to that of 3 green.  The much more shady back half was the most affected, and it was also covered on Wednesday.  Once again, this half of the green will likely not be open immediately.  Luckily, I can't imagine that there are too many of you who enjoy pin positions on that portion of the green, anyway.

17 green:  The right half of 17 green definitely appears to have more injury than we'd expected.  Despite not having a significant duration of snow cover, this is unfortunately the best candidate for possibly having a temporary green upon opening.  Hopefully, a temporary green won't be necessary, and we've also covered the entire green to protect it and to promote recovery.

As you can see, having predominately Poa annua putting surfaces on a heavily tree-lined course during a winter that saw a lot of snow and several freeze/thaw cycles can create an interesting concoction of conditions come spring, and it's not a surprise that many of the aforementioned areas receive little to no winter sunshine due to southern shading, and even though 7, 8, 14, 16, and 17 were cleared of snow during the January 1 thaw, they still couldn't escape unscathed.

The good news is that the other 14 greens came through winter with little to no injury.  Now, we're hoping for a nice warming trend and quick recovery.